How do I cook chicken breasts?

What To Do With Chicken Breasts

By: Chef Cristian Feher

www.tampabaychef.com

Grilled Chicken Breasts © Cristian Feher 2012

You’re rolling by the meat department and that beacon goes off in your head, beep-beep-beep, “must... get... chicken... breasts.... healthy.” And you put them in your cart. So far you feel good. You’re being healthy, right?  But then you take them home and two things are likely to happen; They go funky in the fridge and end up in the garbage, or you overcook them and no one wants to eat them. In either case, they are likely to end up going to waste.

I’m going to give you some ideas and pointers that will make your chicken breasts soar to the top of your weekly menu.

Not all chicken breasts are created equal.  If I asked you to pick out the healthiest thing in the meat department, you would probably come up with a package of boneless, skinless chicken breasts. And while you wouldn’t necessarily be wrong, there are some differences that you may want to pay attention to.

You are likely to find chicken breasts from different manufacturers. Some are organic, others are air-chilled, some are all-natural, and the rest are from what I call “lab-chickens”. If your primary reason for eating chicken breast is health, then read on.

Lab Chickens, and ordinary chicken meat products come from chickens raised in factory-like farms. They are genetically manipulated and have likely been fed a diet high in antibiotics, and growth hormones. It takes a natural chicken about 80 days to reach full size, but major chicken growers have got it down to about 45 days to reach 5 pounds! Just think, if your newborn baby grew this fast, he’d be 350 pounds by the age of 2. And if you don’t think these hormones affect humans, just take a look around. I try not to feed my family or my customers chicken that was grown with antibiotics, hormones or genetic manipulation (what they call selective breeding).

All Natural doesn’t really mean anything. Like I’ve said before in several other articles, “natural” is a marketing word to make you feel that you’re buying something that is good for you.  Snake venom, cyanide, opium, and cow manure are all natural too. You can ignore the “natural” and read the package to make sure the chicken was not fed drugs, hormones or antibiotics.

Organic, free-range, and chemical-free chicken is the way to go, in my opinion. Aside from the chemical factor, I find the meat to be softer, tastier, and more moist than that of regular chicken. And you don’t have to spend exorbitant amounts for good meat. I buy Murray’s brand chicken which is priced pretty competitively with regular chicken. But most important to me is the quality of the meat, which I am very happy with.

How to buy it. Chicken breasts come with skin-on, skin-off, and skin-on with bone. Don’t buy the ones with the bone, unless you want to practice your butchery skills and throw out half the package weight in skin and bone. Your choice comes down to skin on, or skin off. Just keep in mind that the reason chicken breast meat tends to dry out is because it has no fat. The skin has fat. So when you’re cooking it, the fat from the skin will baste the breast, add some flavor and lubricate the meat. And you can always discard the skin before serving, unless you’re like me and prize crispy chicken skin as a superlative snack! But you can still take skinless chicken breasts and make them juicy too.

How to cook it without burning or drying it out? Yes, the reason you started to read this article! Below are five quick ways to cook chicken breasts like a champ! But before I get to that, let me give you two quick tips on cooking:

1) Thick breasts don’t always cook evenly, and so you end up overcooking them or serving them raw-ish. To avoid this, you want to make the meat thinner by butterflying them with a chef knife. Cut the breast in half horizontally, opening it up like a book, or cutting it into two thinner pieces.

2) Almost everyone of my cooking class students asks me, “How do I know if the chicken is done.” My answer - The color is opaque, and if you poke the meat, it burns your finger. If the meat is hot enough to burn your finger, it’s done. Also, the juices run clear, not red or pink. But this only works if you butterfly it, pound it, or get it thin before you start cooking it (about 1/2 to 3/4 inch thin).

Quick Chicken Breast Recipes

1. (GRILL) Sprinkle the breasts with Adobo seasoning. Grill on both sides. Brush them heavily with chimichurri towards the end and before serving. Chimichurri - stick the following in a food processor and blend - 2 cloves of garlic, 1/2 a chopped red bell pepper, salt, pepper, a little thyme, parsley and oregano (fresh is best, but dry if you don’t have fresh).

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2. (SKILLET)  Cook a diced onion with a dozen sliced mushrooms and a little olive oil until the onion is translucent (7-10 mins). Add 1 tsp of dijon mustard, salt, pepper, 2 cloves minced garlic, 1/2 tsp of curry powder and 1/2 cup of chicken stock. Add 4 chicken breast. Put lid over skillet and simmer/steam until chicken is cooked through. Serve over rice, potatoes or steamed cauliflower.

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3. (OVEN)  Oven-frying is easy and healthy! Sprinkle the meat with Adobo seasoning, dredge your breast in flour, then dredge through a bowl with a couple of scrambled raw eggs, then dredge through a bowl of Italian bread crumbs. Put them on a baking sheet with non-stick aluminum foil. Spray both sides with some cooking spray and bake at 400 for 20-30 minutes. When in doubt, make a little slice into the chicken and stick your finger in it. If it’s opaque, clear juices and burns your finger, it’s done!

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4. (SKILLET)  This one goes great over angel-hair pasta! Dice an onion, cook it until translucent with a little olive oil. Add two diced tomatoes, 3 cloves of minced garlic, a few olives of your choices, 6 capers, a little oregano and fresh basil (fresh or dry), salt and pepper. Add 2 chicken breasts and cook until the chicken is done.

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5. (OVEN)  (SKILLET) Oven-fry the chicken as per instructions above. While you’re doing that, put a little olive oil in a non-stick skillet and sautee two dozen cherry tomatoes, fresh chopped basil, and a handful of salted roasted cashews just until the cherry tomatoes and hot and the skins are seared. Serve on top of chicken with  salt and pepper and sprinkle with clumps of goat cheese.

Do you have your own really good chicken breast recipes? If so, you can email me at tampabaychef@gmail.com. Don’t forget to check out my Facebook page at www.facebook.com/tampa.personal.chef

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How to grill a steak

Around the World in 60 Steaks

By: Chef Cristian Feher

www.tampabaychef.com

Ah, the life of a jet-setter! Traveling around the world. Carefree. More pictures than your camera can hold. Praying with monks in the Himalayas. Soccer with Argentinian children. An epic meal at El Bulli in Spain - followed by mollecular gastro-intestinal pain on the way to Morocco, where you befriend some Saudis and before you know it you’re stepping down the stairs from a private jet in Dubai. Your first sand storm. But it doesn’t end there, because in Dubai someone told you about the modern mountain country of Khazakstan, and there you met some Russians whom you’ve joined for a motorcycle tour of the former Soviet Union. The plane ride from Magadan to Anchorage, Alaska is a nightmare, but you made it with another story to tell. We don’t even need to go into the skiing adventure in Banff, fighting a Yeti in British Columbia, or the horseback riding in Montana, because for most of us this will never happen.

Before you get too depressed, however,  I have some “staycation” tips of how you can travel the world in your own backyard, vicariously through your steak! May is Florida beef month, after all.

Your trip starts in Argentina where good beef speaks for itself. And although the only accompaniment of an Argentinian steak is some chimichurri (herbs, garlic, olive oil), the main course charcoal-grilled rib eye steak is preceded by fine cheeses, pickled roasted peppers, a green salad, “empanadas” (the best damn thing that’s ever been wrapped in pie dough), grilled sausages on a bun (called “Chori-Pan”) and is finished with fine liqueurs and “alfajores” (Argentinian Pastries). This is why Argentina shuts down for three hours each day, and you’re taking an extra long afternoon off to enjoy your steak.

You’re on the same side of the planet still, so a flight to Australia just makes sense. Here you put throwing “Another shrimp on the barbie!” to good use as you grill a garlic-rubbed beef tenderloin and poach some tiger shrimp in butter, Foster’s beer and curry powder. But don’t even think about having that steak before you’ve had a sumptuous appetizer of Australian beef pies with ketchup - yes, you heard right. And according to an Australian I once met, they consider ketchup to be a flavor enhancer (which sounded more like “Floyvah inhanzah mate!”.

Japan is the land of the Samurai, Sapporo beer and Kobe beef, and it’s a straight shot north from Australia. You start with an exotic appetizer of raw kobe beef sashimi with ponzu sauce and ginger, before you move onto a main course grilled Kobe beef steak marinated in garlic Tamari (a cousin of soy sauce) and served on wasabi mashed potato. As you wash it down with with an ice-cold can of Saporo beer, you learn about how the japanese cows which produce Kobe beef are fed a nutritious diet which includes daily beer and massages. This yields a nicely-marbeled, tender beef the Japanese tout as the best in the world - and although it’s really good beef, it doesn’t compare to the grass-fed Argentinian beef you had earlier on your trip, or good American beef.

You’ve spent three days in Tokyo trying to find a Mexican restaurant and although the taco-sushi Mr. Oyakada made you, it’s not the same. 36 hours later you land in Cancun, and head over to Playa Del Carmen where you marinate your steak in liquid smoke, soy sauce, garlic, and cilantro before you rub it with cumin. While you’re letting the flavor sink in, you make yellow rice, cumin black beans, pico de gallo, salsa verde with green tomatoes, and your famous avocado guacamole. Leftover avocados? No problem, stick them in a sauce pot with some sauteed onions, cilantro, garlic and chicken stock. Bring to a simmer, and stick it in the blender for the most amazing cream of avocado soup you’ve ever had! Now you’re ready to sear your steaks on the grill and enjoy a little taste of Mexico!

Your next stop is the pirate port of Jamaica in the caribbean where you begin your culinary journey with a spicy beef oxtail stew powered by scotch bonnet peppers. Yowza, that’s hot! You soothe your taste buds with an ice-cold Red Stripe beer while you rub jerk seasoning on your steak (thyme, allspice, garlic, onion, hot peppers, sugar, salt, soy sauce, orange juice, lime juice, vinegar, nutmeg and ginger) did you get all that? Good. Sear that on a charcoal fire and bring your taste buds back to life, the good life!

You’ve saved the best for last now that you’re back in Florida! You enjoy the sunshine while your steak swims in a pool of mojo (garlic, onion, cumin, oregano, black pepper, kosher salt, cilantro, Tabasco sauce, lime and orange juice) No need to get your grill out though, because in Florida, every day is a BBQ day! You sear your mojito steak and enjoy it with a citrus red cabbage coleslaw and fried plantain. A perfect end to a perfect trip, all in the comfort of your back yard!

Five things you didn't know about food

Five Things You Didn't Know About Food
By: Chef Cristian Feher
www.tampabaychef.com

Nothing is more entertaining at a social gathering than paying close attention while someone divulges previously unknown facts about a certain subject. We've all gathered around in a circle to listen to that certain person tell us what our suit jacket has in common with the space station, and how the shoes you're wearing can help provide energy for a small town in Africa. And although I don't plan on sharing those particular tidbits with you, here are five things about food that you can enlighten your friends with at your next gathering!

Why is beef tenderloin so soft? Any butcher will tell you that the muscles that are most used turn into the toughest cuts of beef. By that same token, the muscles least used in the animal will yield the softest cut. Both, cows and bulls, have tenderloin muscles. The purpose for that muscle in a bull is to mount the cow during mating. However, the cow is female and therefore does not mount anything, so that muscle remains virtually unused by the cow, making it the softest muscle and providing you with delicious, tender steaks!

What does 'No MSG' really mean? By now most of us are aware that a preservative and flavour enhancer called MSG (Mono sodium Glutamate) is not very good for you. And many people try to avoid it by purchasing food products labeled "NO MSG". But did you know that MSG has many different names? MSG can be made many different ways and, chemically speaking, is made from hydrolyzed vegetable protein. So the next time you buy a 'No MSG' product, read the ingredients carefully, because you are most likely to find that it does contain MSG in it. It's just named something different, such as: "Hydrolyzed corn protein, hydrolyzed vegetable protein, spice, or hydrolyzed (ANYTHING) protein. And it's how those sneaky food manufacturers have been getting away with it up until now.

How can people in hot climates eat such spicy foods? It seems that the closer to the equator you go, the spicier the food gets! Take countries like India, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica and Thailand. Not only does the weather get extremely hot, but so does the food! As a tourist, you may wonder why people would do that to themselves. You can see them sniffling and sweating while they eat, and it's 100 degrees out! But the truth is that hot peppers containing substances like capsicum cause the body to sweat, which actually cools you as you eat. And many hot spices will also thin out your blood, lowering your body's core temperature.


What did people do before refrigerators? There are many other ways of preserving food. Many cultures used strong mixtures of spices to preserve meats and grains. The spice mixture we know today as "curry" was used in the past by people to preserve meats, and even to cover up the unsavoury taste and smell of slightly rancid food. Spices such as garlic, cinnamon, mustard, cloves and oregano have such high concentrations of anti-microbial (germ killers) that they have been clinically proven to kill the salmonella bacteria.

The "all natural" claim is not so fresh! Marketing companies are constantly throwing you catchy words in order to convince you that something is good for you, when in fact, it's vaguely true at most. Did you know that the marketing term "all natural" really doesn't mean anything? It certainly doesn't mean that what you're eating is good for you. Here are some things that are "all natural": Arsenic, Opium, Snake Venom, Mercury, Death Cap Mushrooms, Atropine, Tetanus, and Strychnine.

Now that you have learned some juicy morsels of moderately important information, go out there and show your friends how smart you really are!